Done by HABUMUGISHA Olivier UG10100309

July, 13th, 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION....................................................................................................................................... 2 ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................................. 3 I. II. 1. 2. III. 1. 2. 1. 2. 3. IV. i. GENERAL INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 4 CONTEXT OF INTERNSHIP ....................................................................................................... 5 Objectives of Internship ................................................................................................................. 5 Importance of Internship ............................................................................................................... 6 ACTIVITIES , MATERIALS AND METHODS .......................................................................... 6 Description of the site..................................................................................................................... 6 Activities done , Materials and methods used ................................................................................ 7 Observation .................................................................................................................................... 7 Interview ......................................................................................................................................... 8 Documentation ............................................................................................................................... 8 RESULTS AND LESSONS FROM INTERNSHIP .................................................................... 8 About the identification .................................................................................................................. 8

ii. About investment ........................................................................................................................... 9 iii. iv. v. vi. vii. V. 1. 2. 3. About the anti-erosive strategies adopted ................................................................................... 9 About grown crops in Rusatira, ................................................................................................ 10 About The Fields management..................................................................................................... 10 About the constraints to the good productivity in farming ....................................................... 11 About rearing (Livestock) part ................................................................................................. 12 CONSTRAINTS, RECOMMANDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS ......................................... 13 Constraints faced during internship .............................................................................................. 13 Recommendations ........................................................................................................................ 14 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 15

REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................... 15

DECLARATION

I, HABUMUGISHA Olivier, hereby declare that, except where otherwise indicated, this document is entirely my own work and has not been submitted in whole or in part to any other university. Done at Huye 13th/July/2012

HABUMUGISHA Olivier

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this internship report is to explain what the internee did and learned during his internship period at Rusatira sector. This internship report is also a requirement for the partial fulfilment for the award of a bachelors degree in Agriculture Economics and agribusiness; it was put in place by the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) so that students apply theories learnt at school into practice.

The report focuses primarily on activities carried out in Agriculture Field, The selected sample is Rusatira sector . It outlines the methods used to obtain data, the general description of Agriculture activities in Rusatira ,why the internship had to be carried out and the lessons learnt by the intern.

In conclusion the report suggests solutions (recommendations) the Government & Population which they can use to solve the existing weakness and over the threats in Agriculture Sector.

I.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

The background of Rwanda has not been very bright because it faced many different problems which caused the country to be ranked now among the most poor countries in the world. Today, research indicates that 45 percent of the countrys 10.7 million people remain under the poverty line (www.newtimes.co.rw, 2012). Agriculture Field is among the most empowered pillars In Rwanda, because as shown by Douglas Gollin,2009 a percentage of 89 % of the whole Rwandan population is agriculture workforce. In Fact, if results mentioned in Douglas Gollin, 2009 are veracious, we would be observing the most performing agricultures role in the increase of Rwandan GDP. Students in the 3rd year in National University of Rwanda have to conduct an internship program for specific period of time designed by the faculty of Agriculture as partial fulfillment for the award of bachelors degree in Agriculture. Internship programs exposes a student on how theories learned at school are applied in the field, this prepares and orients the train to fit in the field of employment after studies.

A research (conducted as internship) made by students of national university of Rwanda, faculty of Agriculture empowered by the staff of the faculty, has been carried out to test and check out If current agricultural growth state is necessary for poverty reduction. If investments in the agricultural sector have enough social returns to maintain a farmer in a healthy financial situation If so, what kinds of investments are likely to have the highest returns? If not, what are the hindrances to the good performance of agriculture field Which crops are most yielding, Etc.

As sample Area, Rusatira sector located in Huye district in southern province, has been chosen and the internship started from 27th-29th /June/2012.

II. 1.

CONTEXT OF INTERNSHIP Objectives of Internship

The general objective of the internship was to provide the internee with an opportunity to test and apply principles learned in class. The internship we took has general objectives to get familiarized with our profession. Today ,the lack of practical skills is a tough problem ; the internship is a best opportunity to gain not only Theoretical skills , but also tangible skills which will enable us to be ranked among the best professionals in the field of agriculture economy.

The specific objectives of this internship are to : Get familiarized with agriculture field through understanding and evaluating different constraints encountered in production, processing, storage and selling agriculture produces. To understand how Agriculture sector works, through intercommunication with the building block of the sector who are farmers. To develop career opportunities. In giving internee a certain time and place to exercise his profession as true agronomist. To improve the trainees communication skills through the debate with farmers; it teaches internee how to explain certain matters to farmers and ask questions in polite and communicative manner to the farmer Take the time to think how to solve some specific problems, observed through enhancement of research and build strong critical & resolution aptitude. Build strong research skills to the internee through practicing different research methods, techniques and processes , in collecting , analyzing ,interpreting and publishing data.

2.

Importance of Internship

The Importance of this internship, As agro-economist, are many; some of them are the following : Founding out how is the standards of living of farmers in Rusatira sector. Understand the role of labor in the enhancement of agriculture. what is the ratio of active agriculture labor force to the whole population, does the labor we have enough sufficient to make our agriculture most performing. Discovering the climate conditions, most appropriate to the cultivation and rearing, because one of the conditions which can cause supply or demand to vary considerably is climate; to understand it, enables us to be excellent economists. Be aware of crops most grown in Rusatira sector, try to understand why farmers do choose to grow such crops not others, discovering conditions (ecological, economical, etc.) which are the cause of practicing selective farming. Evaluate constraints faced while growing those crops and rearing those breeds. It is a good opportunity to develop skills and techniques directly applicable in agriculture field.

III.

ACTIVITIES , MATERIALS AND METHODS

1. Description of the site

The internship took place in Huye district , which is composed of 14 sectors , among those sectors , we worked in Rusatira which has in Turn has 20 cells, among those cells , I was in Kimirehe. Kimirehe is a cell composed of 8 villages, among those villages, I was in Kigarama village.

2. Activities done , Materials and methods used

Methodology

refers

to

the

method

and

techniques

used

in

the

process

of

data

Collection and analysis. The methodology used to collect data in Rusatira sector, is that we made splits in groups , towards cells , each group was composed of students from the 4 departments of the faculty.

Arrived at the cell level, and its the sub-levels (villages), we made also splits. I have been oriented to Kimirehe cell and Kigarama village.

Kigarama village in which I was, is a large region, to finish all the households was almost impossible due to the main constraint of time, we had 3 days.

To make efficient survey , a sample size of 12 households/student has been adopted, this sample was not large this is because firstly, it facilitates quick, reliable and efficient results, because it facilitates data collection, data analysis and data interpretation,;

Secondly, the time and cost involved on sample size study are much less than the complete counts. For complete count huge funds and so much time are required.

The materials used were forms on which was written question to be answered by the farmer through interview and the interviewer has to write each answer on the corresponding field on the questionnaire.

After collection of data, the next step was the analysis of data, in this case I used a software (SPSS 16.0 and MS Excel 2010), in data entry , data analysis ( data cleaning , data sorting, data manipulation and visualization of data ). The Interpretation of data used some resources from the web, but in the most cases we used syllabus ( theories learnt in class to compare and understand the meaning). During the Internship the internee used the following methods. 1. Observation

This method helped the trainee where he collected data trough understanding some matters which farmers can not reply efficiently. E.g.: The slope of the fields, types of soils, etc.

2.

Interview

The internee carried out interviews from farmers while collecting data. This method consists of is conversation between us (the and the farmer where questions were asked by the interviewer (us) to retrieve information from the interviewee who is the farmer.

The reasons why this method has been used is because firstly it is easy to obtain detailed information about personal feelings, perceptions and opinions secondly, they allow more detailed questions to be asked and this lead us to achieve a high response rate . 3. Documentation

During the internship the internee used some resources , to understand some problems efficiently; the web and library resources helped me too much to get some supplemental information

IV.

RESULTS AND LESSONS FROM INTERNSHIP

1. Results from collected data during internship

It is not possible to summarize whole results, from our observation, interview and documentation during internship; what were going to talk is major results observed.

i.

About the identification of household members what have been found is that :

The great percentage of respondents (53.3%) is of female gender; while the remaining is male
(46.7 %).

The age of interviewee lays

most in young people. As shown by this bar chart, largest percentage (32%) are persons numbered in the range 0-12 while the smallest percentage are persons with age over 60.

LESSON:

To have a production (production function Q=F (K, L)), two major variable are involved of
units are involved: capital and labor; The large part of Kimirehe population can play a major role as Labor in the increase or decrease of production in agriculture sector. This is confirmed by the marital status study, because we see that the major part of households members are single (66.7 %); this shows us that there is a great possibility to use those people as a strong building block of the good performance of agriculture sector in Rusatira sector. However, I observed that there are some limitations. based on identification factor, the large number of my sample have not enough education to be able to take part of active agriculture labor force ; study shows that 71.7 % have attended primary school only, while the remaining 25 % is uneducated, only 3.3 % have attended school at the level of secondary school advanced level. education Frequency Percent Valid no education primary A LEVEL Total 15 43 2 60 25.0 71.7 3.3 100.0

Valid Percent 25.0 71.7 3.3 100.0

Cumulative Percent 25.0 96.7 100.0

ii.

About investment made in agriculture activities

We noticed that most of the people do use livestock manure and compost, however they dont use frequently some important items like feeds for animal, medicines; etc. mulching is not a popular activity because crops which require mulching like coffee and tomatoes are not widely grown there. About the source of production factors, most of respondents told me that some of them like compost, livestock manure and mulching plants do provide from their own plantations, crops and livestock . Details are shown in the table below use/ compost industrial Pesticides livestock mulching feeds medicines percentage fertilizers manure 0% yes 91.7% 16.7% 66.7% 33.3% 33.3% 41.7% yes, slightly no 8.3% 0% iii. About the anti-erosive strategies adopted, we saw that most of the people do practice majorly anti-erosive holes , and anti-erosive plantations (grasses). This is shown by the following table 25.0% 75.0 % 0% 83.3% 25.0% 8.3% 0% 66.7% 33.3% 33.3% 25.0% 33.3%

Strategy Terraces Trees Holes Grasses

Yes 0% 0% 75% 66.7%

Yes slightly 8.3% 16.7 % 16.7% 33.3%

No 91.7% 83.3% 8.3% 0%

iv.

About grown crops in Rusatira, The most obvious observation is that cash crops are not grown at a popular level; Food crops are majorly grown in Rusatira (as shown by the Pie below); the most prominent crop is bean which is cultivated by almost 100% households; and the combination beans ,sweet potatoes and cassava is very popular; however, some cash crops (e.g. Coffee, Rice and Tomatoes) are grown also. Grown Crops in Rusatira sector Freque Percent ncy beans, sweet potatoes, 1 8.3 cassava, Irish potatoes rice and beans 1 8.3 Cassava sweet potatoes 1 8.3 and sun flowers Sorghum ,beans, 1 8.3 sunflowers and sweet potatoes cassava, sorghum and 3 25.0 sweet potatoes coffee and cassava 1 8.3 maize and beans 1 8.3 soya beans, ground nuts, 1 8.3 beans and cassava Beans, cassava and sweet 2 16.7 potatoes Total 12 100.0

Valid

Valid Percent 8.3 8.3 8.3 8.3

Cumulative Percent 8.3 16.7 25.0 33.3

25.0 8.3 8.3 8.3 16.7 100.0

58.3 66.7 75.0 83.3 100.0

v. About The Fields management, regarding the type of fertilizer used, the commonly used fertilizer is compost this is because it is the easiest to find due to his cost cheapness. About spraying fields 50% do practice it, and the remaining 50% dont. About the use of selected varieties and the source of seeds for farming , the most part (83.3%) responded that they dont use selected varieties, reasons why will be discussed later in

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constraints, while The source of seeds most preferable for Those farmer is from sector market and from their previous harvest. The reasons why the source of seed is most preferable vary, but the most predominant is that those seeds have excellent region adaptability (45%), well crop growth and increase harvest (25%), well crop growth only (25%), and increase harvest only (8.3%). About the reasons why some doesnt use selected varieties , the most percentage (41.7%) answered that it because selected varieties are not usually available to them Those 2 tables illustrate it clearly. source of seeds Frequency Valid From our previous harvest From sector market and our own harvest From RAB and our own harvest From RAB ,sector market and our own harvest Total 4 6 1 1 Percent 33.3 50.0 8.3 8.3 Valid Percent 33.3 50.0 8.3 8.3

Use of selected varieties Frequency Percent Valid yes no Total 2 10 12 16.7 83.3 100.0

12

100.0

100.0

vi.

About the constraints to the good productivity in farming It is not a problem to find agronomist, it cant be a problem the lack of selected seeds or Fight against pests and diseases; if we have money, poverty is our only problem; if solved , all others will be eradicated. Said by one farmer in Kigarama cell . The following table gives much clarification about the constraints.

Constraint/Level It is not a problem Highest Less High Adequate

Lack of selected pests and few Knowledge Poverty fertilizers Varieties diseases agronomists /skills 0.0% 50.0% 58.3% 33.3% 75.0% 41.7% 75.0% 8.3% 8.3% 8.3% 8.3% 8.3% 16.7% 16.7% 16.7% 25.0% 8.3% 25.0% 8.3% 25.0% 16.7% 33.3% 8.3% 25.0%

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vii.

About rearing (Livestock) part, 75% of households have a cow or other livestock and 25% dont have anything; and what is very fortunate is that 55.6 % of the cow holders responded that their cows give them enough manure to fertilize their fields, and 44.4 % do not get enough manure from their livestock to fertilize their fields. Study shows that mainly 4 types of livestock are reared in Kigarama cell which are cow, pigs, chicken and goat. The following chart shows clearly percentage of possession of livestock.
80 70 60 PERCENTAGE 50 40 30 20 10 0 Yes No Cow 75 25 Goat 41.7 58.3 Pigs 58.3 41.7 Chicken 50 50

To wonder why , or at which purpose a farmer do rear livestock 50.06% responded that they do it for getting milk and manure while 30.01 % rear for obtaining manure, 9.96 % have the rearing purpose of obtaining milk and cash and the rest (9.96%) do rearing for obtaining both milk, cash and manure. The Livestock prices In Rusatira sector are not high enough to dont attract the market The following chart illustrates in details the average, the average calculated is for household who do rear (i.e.: which the price is different from 0) and 0 price means that they dont have this livestock

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LIVESTOCK PRICE PER HOUSEHOLD

300000 250000 200000 150000 100000 50000 0 1 2 3 4 5 0 0 5000 0 6 7 8 0 0 0 0 9 0 0 25000 4000 10 11 12 PRICE

averag e 15600

Cow price 200000 250000 200000 200000 goat Price 20000 pig_price hen price 15000 3000 0 0 0 8000 12000 0 0 0 4000

200000 200000 15000 10000 2500 0 30000 2000

220000 100000 200000 196667 20000 0 0 0 0 0 15000 20000 16714.3 1500 2833.33

2. Lessons Learnt during internship

Now the Lessons I gained from this internship: The overall Kimirehe cell population has the age of working ,but due to inefficient use of labor resources, there is large number of people who do require consumption but in turn , they dont produce . this makes the standards of living very high which is the cause of the problem of poverty there. The problem of poverty makes almost 100% of the population making farming for only subsistence, this implies that they are not interested in cultivating cash crops, they mainly cultivate food crops. The poverty problem is not the most dangerous problem to be solved first, the problem I noticed to be resolved in priority is how to get out of poverty; the mindset of Kimirehe farmers is very traditional and pessimistic , this shown on how they react to some simple matters which doesnt require enough investments (E.g. when the crop is infected by a disease or crop the most part of respondents told that they dont look for advice anywhere, they do nothing, this mindset has to be changed, and it is ,on my behalf the most dangerous problem which our sector(agriculture) is facing. V. CONSTRAINTS, RECOMMANDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS 1. Constraints faced during internship

The faculty of agriculture made all possible efforts to make this internship in a healthy conditions, however, some constraints has been encountered when we arrived in Kimirehe Cell, Rusatira Sector; some of those are the following:

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 Unawareness (misinformation) of the population: what I noticed is that farmers have not been enough informed about the event we were doing. Field exploration difficulties: to explore a field in which youre for your first time, without a map or other person to guide you is really not an easy matter. Lack of efficient mean of transport to go and to return : to solve problem of difficulties in exploration , a synergy strategy was supposed to be adopted ; unfortunately during 3 days of internship we faced problems to find a bus which will transport us directly to the field. This constraint is the main cause of the delay of start in the morning. Difficulties to find interviewees (farmers) : due to the constraint #1, most of farmers were not at their home in the time interval of 07:30 am-13pm; this has been a very difficult constraint because sometimes , I moved up to 7 households without finding someone to interview. Time constraint: internship is really a basic tool for a young professional to get accustomed with his career; 3 days of internship we took were very useful but insufficient to carry complete research; I had many things to interact with the farmers but the time was a limitation. 2. Recommendations The staff of the faculty in charge internship has questionnaire before at least 1 week before going to the field, this will enable us to explore, view and review each question and understand his meaning and the relevance. The facilitative transport means have to be put in place; this will facilitate our tasks through shortening the time between leaving campus and arriving to the field Much information about the site have to be provided , because to find resource about Rusatira was not an easy task and unfortunately I did not clearly data which describe clearly and specifically Rusatira sector; it would be better if , such resources, can be provided before going to the field. Local authorities have to inform farmers about the event, explain them accurately about the importance of the event to the farmer, and convince them to stay at home or in a common place during the time of exploring the site; this will facilitate our tasks because as I said ,on field , we had 2 task , 1st is to search for farmer whom to ask questions, 2nd is to ask questions (interview).

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3. Conclusion

The internship of three days has helped the trainee. It has given him The opportunity to put in practice the theoretical knowledge learnt at school. The trainee has realized the theories learnt in classroom are of great importance ,due to the internship and I understand now that top put those theories in practice leads to attaining organizational goals. Regarding the benefits I have acquired from the internship, am deeply thankful to the Faculty of agriculture and Rusatira District administration for their full support and cooperation during the entire period.

REFERENCES www.huye.gov.rw www.newtimes.co.rw Agriculture as an Engine of Growth and Poverty Reduction: What We Know and What We Need to Know, Douglass Collins, July 2009.

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